Method and apparatus for enabling consistent ancillary disk array storage device operations with respect to a main application

Abstract

A method and apparatus for enhancing data recovery in data processing systems in which applications span multiple logical devices. A data processing system includes multiple standard devices for storing data and corresponding BCV devices for, in one mode, operating as mirrors of those standard devices. If certain of those BCV devices are associated with the same data set, a CONSISTENT SPLIT operation controls the way in which each of these BCV devices is detached from its corresponding standard device and made available to another application. Each command to an application for controlling the BCV devices is translated into one or more request data structures that identify the BCV devices as being involved in a consistent split operation and that establishes a system lock out for those particular devices during which those devices are split from their respective devices in a consistent manner.

Description

1. Field of the InventionThis invention is related to data processing systems with disk array storage devices and more specifically to a method and apparatus that enhances recovery operations in such disk array storage devices.2. Description of Related ArtA conventional data processing system that handles large quantities of data generally includes a host and a disk array storage device, or DASD. A host generally includes one or more control processors and a main memory, and it executes programs and operates on data transferred to the main memory from the disk array storage devices as known in the art. Disk array storage devices, such as those manufactured and sold by the assignee of this invention, include many physical storage devices organized in logical storage volumes or logical devices. Such a disk array storage device operates with a host adapter or equivalent module that receives an input / output command from the host over a channel in a host dependent format. The host adapte...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent text describes a method and apparatus for improving the recovery operations of data processing systems that use disk array storage devices. The invention addresses the issue of "pending write data operations" that can delay the recovery of a split device. The invention introduces an "instant split" command that allows for faster detachment of a backup device from a main device without managing the write operations in the cache. The invention also addresses the issue of multiple standard devices being used for storing applications and associated data. Overall, the invention improves the speed and efficiency of recovery operations in data processing systems with disk array storage devices.

Problems solved by technology

As the use of such data processing systems has grown, grown certain issues that impact the splitting of a BCV device from its corresponding standard device have appeared.

These include an issue of pending write data operations.

This process can be very time consuming, particularly if there are a large number of write pending entries at the time the split occurs.

It was found that it was possible that the lock could be in place for seconds or even minutes under certain conditions and these delays were not acceptable in many applications.

However, applications continue to grow in complexity and the data associated with those applications continues to grow.

However, each discrete instant split operation was dispatched separately, so the order in which the instant splits occurred on different BCV devices was unpredictable.

This could produce inconsistent data.

Consequently in either event, the data in the split BCV device will be inconsistent.

It is difficult at best then to identify any such inconsistent data, particularly when dependent data transfers are involved.

Consequently it becomes very difficult to recover data in the event of some type of malfunction.

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